


The Science of Partying and Pyrotechnics

by dearzoemurphy



Series: Soft Summer Prompts [4]
Category: Community (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, Fireworks, Fluff, Fourth of July, Mid-Canon, Tumblr Prompt, and britta being scared of fireworks, catching firelies, jeff and britta being surprisingly good with kids, probably takes place in the summer after their junior year, shamelessly wrote Pierce out of this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:55:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24417733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearzoemurphy/pseuds/dearzoemurphy
Summary: The study group attends Shirley's fourth of July party, where Jeff and Britta get roped into watching her kids until they're interrupted by a startling surprise.Based on the soft summer prompts 'watching the fireflies' and 'fireworks'.
Relationships: Britta Perry/Jeff Winger
Series: Soft Summer Prompts [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1753618
Comments: 8
Kudos: 46





	The Science of Partying and Pyrotechnics

**Author's Note:**

> this was not a request, but instead something I wanted to write based on a summer party I went to a couple of years ago. this one's for my fellow j/b stans, I hope you all enjoy!

The study group had all been invited to Shirley’s fourth of July party, which turned out to be much more enjoyable than all of them had anticipated. Andre had grilled hot dogs, partygoers both young and old were running around with sparklers, and the group was doing a good job of keeping to themselves without seeming stand-offish. Shirley had set out fold up picnic tables, one of which the group had claimed for themselves. 

“Do you think a hot dog is a sandwich or a taco?” Troy asked while they were eating.

“Sandwich. It’s a piece of meat and condiments between two slices of bread,” Jeff said matter-of-factly.

“Excuse me, a bun is not two slices of bread. It’s structurally the same as a taco shell, especially since people don’t turn them on their sides to eat them,” Britta countered. 

“Says the only person not eating hot dogs,” Jeff shot back, gesturing to her veggie burger.

“I’m still allowed to have an opinion!” 

“I believe that hot dogs are their own thing. Not a sandwich, not a taco. Just a hot dog,” Abed chimed in.

Troy looked at him and nodded wisely. “You’re right. They’re just hot dogs.”

Both Britta and Jeff rolled their eyes.

“Still sandwiches,” Jeff grumbled.

“No they’re not! They don’t even look like sandwiches!” Britta exclaimed, becoming far too impassioned over the whole thing.

“Oh, so just because I don’t look like I’m 37, does that mean I’m not 37?” he retorted.

“Who cares?!” Annie shouted over the argument, glaring between her friends.

They both looked down to the picnic table and mumbled apologies, glancing at each other sideways when Annie looked away from them.

“It’s a sandwich,” he grumbled out of the corner of his mouth.

“Taco.”

Annie heard their mumbling and gave them an icy stare, causing the pair to stop again and drop the subject.

“Hello everyone! I’m so happy you all could make it!” Shirley cooed, coming up to the table and surveying it, “Except Pierce. I don’t know how much of a loss that is,” she added in a lower tone.

Jeff did his best not to laugh. “Of course. Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he said with a smile. The rest of the table nodded in agreement, making Shirley even happier.

“Aww, I’m glad to hear it! We have a special surprise planned for later tonight and I could use some help setting it up, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble,” she said, looking hopefully at her friends, “I’m not asking Andre’s side of the family. Last time I asked one of them for help, it ended with my kitchen covered in pudding.”

“I’ll help!” Annie said cheerfully, jumping up and gathering her trash.

“We can too,” Abed offered, gesturing between him and Troy.

“We could as well. If you still need more hands,” Jeff added halfheartedly, glancing between himself and Britta.

“Actually, you three should come with me. Jeff and Bri-ta, can you keep an eye on Elijah and Jordan? Make sure they aren’t getting in anyone’s way,” Shirley requested.

“Of course! We can just kind of…watch them from here, right?” Britta asked, looking unsurely over to where the kids were running around and spraying each other with water guns in an empty part of the yard.

“Mhm! That’s just fine,” she replied, “See you two later! Annie, Troy, Abed, let’s go!”

With that, the rest of the group left Jeff and Britta at the picnic table, staring blankly at Shirley’s kids.

“What qualifies as them getting in someone’s way?” Britta asked.

“No idea. I guess as long as they don’t spray anyone else, we’re fine,” Jeff replied, feeling just as clueless.

His friend turned back towards him. “Is that all there is to raising kids? Letting them run around a fenced in yard beating the crap out of each other?”

“If you ask my parents, absolutely. Except instead of a brother, I just had a dog,” Jeff said jokingly. He watched the boys throw their water guns and start running around without them. Behind them, the sun began to dip below the horizon, turning the sky a brilliant bright pink.

Britta laughed, shifting to face the boys again. “I guess mine would say the same. Except I had more than one older brother,” she said.

Both Elijah and Jordan noticed the two adults watching them and took a moment to talk to each other before deciding to run towards them.

“Oh shit, how the fuck do I talk to a kid?” Britta whispered frantically to Jeff.

“Not like that,” he replied, stifling a laugh.

“Auntie Britta! Come here!” Elijah squealed.

“Oh, I don't know, I-”

“Come look at the fireflies that live here!”

She looked over to Jeff, perhaps in search of advice. He gave her a slightly judgmental look, causing Britta to huff and stand up. 

“I’ll be right over,” she called to the boys, who grinned and ran off in the opposite direction towards Shirley’s vegetable garden. 

Britta turned back to Jeff and grabbed his arm, digging her nails into it as she yanked him upwards.

“Hey! What was-”

“You're coming with me. I don't know what to do with children!” she whisper-yelled. 

“I don't either! What makes you think we’ll be any better off together?” Jeff whispered back. 

“Maybe two clueless adults will cancel each other out. PEMDAS or whatever,” Britta said as she practically dragged Jeff over to the garden. 

“That's exactly how math works,” he said, deadpan. Britta whipped around to glare at him before letting his arm go at the sight of Shirley’s kids. 

“Hey! Where are the fireflies?” she asked them, bending down slightly. 

“Over here! We have a competition to see who can catch the most. Do you want to join?” Jordan asked. 

Britta glanced over to Jeff, who gave her another judgmental look that prompted her to say yes. She held back an eye roll as she turned back to the kids. 

“Of course! I would love too,” she replied. 

Jeff held in a chuckle, leaning in close to her ear as she stood up. “Maybe ease back on the sweetness. It's starting to sound a little disingenuous,” he whispered. 

She wrinkled her nose and wanted to fire back a retort, but was interrupted by Jordan taking her by the arm and leading her down the row of tomato plants. 

“There's a bunch over here!” he exclaimed. Elijah had already set about chasing after the glowing bugs, eagerly stretching out his hands as he ran through the garden’s rows. 

“Should we be running around in your mom’s garden? Maybe we should go over into the grass…” Britta said, concerned as she watched Elijah almost trample a vine of squash. 

“Maybe,” Jordan said with a shrug. Britta took the opportunity to herd the two boys away from the plants and into the grass next to them. She exchanging a withering glare with Jeff, who only gave her a half-sincere, half-sarcastic thumbs up.

“Look! They're all flying over here!” Elijah exclaimed excitedly. 

Him and Jordan started racing around, trying to be the first to catch one of the lightning bugs. Britta took this as an opportunity to step away, coming up close to Jeff’s side. 

“What are you waiting for? Do you not want to win?” he asked playfully. 

Britta rolled her eyes. “I have to let them win anyway. They're kids!” she replied. 

“See, you do know what to do with children. Go catch a firefly or two to make them feel good about winning,” he said, patting her gently on the back. 

“Auntie Britta! I caught one!” Jordan called. 

She let out an imperceptible sigh before jogging over to where he was. “Oh, that's amazing! Are you gonna name it?” she asked. 

Jeff watched her interact with the two boys, leaning down to be closer to their height and putting a broad smile on her face. They admired the bug for a few moments before Jordan let go of it, prompting the three of them to start running around in search of more. Britta had a sudden look of determination as she reached out to a different little flashing ball of light with a cupped hand. It landed on her fingertips, prompting a delighted grin to spread across her face. 

“I caught one!” she exclaimed. The boys to rushed over to admire the new catch, squealing excitedly as they watched it crawl over her hand.

Elijah turned around to look at where Jeff was observing them, stopping to think for a moment before running over to him.

“Uncle Jeff! Come here, you gotta see this!” he said excitedly, taking him by the hand and leading him over to where Britta and Jordan were. Jeff smiled down at the kid, feeling something like parental affection that he quickly stuffed away.

“Look! Your wife caught a firefly!” Elijah said, pointing at the bug in Britta’s hands.

Both Jeff and Britta’s faces flushed, Britta turning around to make nervous eye contact with him.

“Oh, were not-”

“She's not-”

“Yeah.”

They glanced sideways at one another, giving awkward smiles before silently deciding to drop the subject and not refute the assumption. Britta went back to looking at the bug that was trying to escape her cupped embrace. She moved the hand that was on top of it off and extended the one it was on so that it could easily fly off. The boys waved goodbye as the big flew off into the night. A small, contented smile spread across Britta’s face. 

“That's…that's amazing. I'm so proud of her,” Jeff said to Elijah, still gazing in Britta’s direction. 

Elijah smiled up at him as Britta and Jordan went back to chasing the fireflies. “She's really nice. I hope my wife will be as pretty as she is,” he said. 

Jeff fought back a growing smile, turning away from his friend to look at the kid. “She’s really special. There's not a lot of girls like her, but I'm sure you'll be able to find one,” he said, bending down to pat Elijah on the shoulder. 

He grinned broadly before being called away by his brother.

“Hey! I caught another one!”

“Not fair! I was talking to Uncle Jeff!” Elijah yelped as he ran over. 

The trio fawned over that lightning bug before it flew out of Jordan’s hand. They quickly returned to chasing others, Britta starting to inch her way towards Jeff. The boys were too preoccupied with firefly hunting to notice when she reached his side.

“You’re doing well, Auntie Britta,” Jeff said with a smirk.

“Not so bad yourself, Uncle Jeff,” she retorted.

They watched the two kids still running around excitedly as the sun finished setting, the cover of darkness helping them more easily locate the glowing bugs. Britta noticed that the rest of the party was beginning to set out lawn chairs and blankets in the space behind the picnic tables.

“Do you think that has something to do with Shirley’s surprise?” Britta asked, gesturing to the group.

“No, of course not. I can’t imagine how it would,” Jeff replied, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Britta balled her hand into a fist and socked him in the shoulder. “Prick.”

Her friend was about to respond, but was interrupted by a large boom. The pair looked up to the sky and saw a large red and blue firework exploding in front of the house. Britta shrieked, latching onto one of Jeff’s arms and burying her head in his shoulder.

“Are you okay, Britts?” he asked, genuinely concerned.

“No. I don’t…don’t like fireworks,” she said, another boom causing her to squeeze his arm tighter.

“Alright, well...” Jeff started scanning the crowd and formulating a plan, “let’s go sit down with the group. I see Annie and Abed not too far away,” he said, pointing towards the rest of their friends. 

Britta lifted her head enough to nod. “Wait, where are the boys? Are they okay?”

Jeff looked to the side and saw Elijah and Jordan running over to Andre’s parents, Elijah turning back for a moment to wave at the pair. “Yeah. They’re going to their grandparents.” 

“Great. We were good babysitters,” she said, yelping at the sound of the next firework. 

“Yeah, you are. Just focus on that,” Jeff said, slowly maneuvering through the crowd. He started stroking small circles on the outside of her arm, trying to keep her calm. 

“Wait, did you just give me full credit for something that you could have claimed partial credit for?!” Britta asked incredulously, lifting her head up again to look at him.

He gave a wry smile. “Don’t think too hard about it,” he said casually. The pair finally reached the rest of their friends, Annie noticing them and giving a small wave.

“Hey! Isn’t this a great surprise? We set everything up, but Shirley and Andre are lighting…wait, is everything okay?” she asked, scooting to the side of her and her roommates’ beach towel to make room for Jeff and Britta. Troy and Abed were too immersed in the firework display to turn around or say anything other than ‘hey’.

“I think so. She’s-”

“Not good with fireworks,” Britta said. She moved to sit cross legged on the towel, pulling Jeff down with her since she hadn’t released her grip on his arm.

Annie nodded. “I’m sorry! Shirley wanted this to be a nice surprise, but we would have gotten you out if we’d known,” she said, patting Britta’s knee.

“S’okay. I just wasn’t prepared for this,” the blonde replied, curling herself into a ball.

“It is the main activity associated with the holiday,” Jeff said. Annie shot him an angry look at his sarcasm.

“Yeah, I know,” Britta mumbled back, pressing her forehead to her knees at a particularly loud boom.

Some type of pity or compassion came over Jeff, causing him to move closer to Britta. He freed his arm from her grasp so that he could drape it over her shoulders. She stiffened at the touch for a moment before relaxing into his side. 

“Sorry. I shouldn’t make fun of your fears.”

Britta shook her head, still not looking up. “I’m not afraid of them. Just don’t like them.”

Jeff thought about making fun of that statement, but decided to humor her to get her mind off of what was going on above them. “Why is that?” he asked instead.

Britta sighed, pulling her head up just enough to make eye contact with Jeff. “When I was a kid, my dad put on these huge fireworks shows with his buddies every Fourth of July. The last year that they did it, one that had been lit fell over and shot towards where I was lying on the curb to watch. It grazed the inside of my arm and left a pretty nasty mark,” Britta elaborated. She started to uncurl herself for a moment before another firework went off. The sound caused her to let out an involuntary yelp and bury her head in her knees once more.

Jeff smiled sympathetically, tightening his embrace around her shoulders and patting her shoulder with his free hand. “And you never got over it.”

“I could have died, Jeff!” the blonde exclaimed, her voice muffled from yelling into her legs.

“Of course, of course. I’m sorry. I’m having trouble turning off the snark tonight,” he said sincerely, moving to rub her back as another firework went off. He noticed Annie sneaking sideways glances at them and stared her down until she turned away.

“Thanks,” Britta grumbled. She hugged her knees even tighter to her chest, but lifted her head again, “Thanks for trying to comfort me.”

Something in Jeff softened as he saw how legitimately grateful she looked. “Any time. Anything that’s still below driving you to the airport.”

“Oh, you’re already so far beyond that,” Britta said with a soft chuckle, leaning her head onto his shoulder and jumping slightly at yet another firework boom. 

He smiled broadly, craning his neck just enough to plant a gentle kiss on the top of her head. She looked up at him, slightly puzzled.

“You remember that we’re not actually married, right?” she asked, recalling Elijah’s earlier assumption.

Jeff smiled, deciding to mess with her. “Oh, honey, you’re hilarious,” he said. Britta rolled her eyes and shoved her shoulder into his side.

“Hey! That hurt, you have bony shoulders!” the brunet exclaimed.

“Too bad I don’t care,” Britta said with a smirk.

“Hey, I hate to be a buzzkill, but could you guys stop bickering and just watch the fireworks? You’re distracting us,” Troy interjected, turning around for the first time since Jeff and Britta had arrived.

Jeff suppressed a growing smirk. “Sure. Sorry,” he said, Britta only nodding sympathetically. Troy smiled appreciatively before quickly looking back at the fireworks.

Britta had stopped jumping at every single sound, only reacting to the largest ones. Nevertheless, Jeff didn’t let her go. In fact, he pulled her even closer to him. She moved her head from where it rested on his shoulder to his chest. The pair relaxed into one another, Britta’s eyes drifting shut and Jeff looking down to admire her. His mind began to wander as he went over the events of the night. Watching her catch fireflies with Elijah and Jordan had shown him a whole new side of Britta. It was one that he definitely wanted to see more of.

“Hello, everyone! Enjoy the surprise?” Shirley interrupted his train of thought, coming up to the group. 

“Of course! This was a great party,” Annie said happily. Troy and Abed nodded in agreement.

“It was like a Disneyland firework display. Or, what I think Disneyland firework displays are like. I’ve never been,” Troy said.

“Oh, that’s nice! Bri-ta, are you okay?” Shirley asked as she saw the blonde still curled into Jeff’s side.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just not a huge fan of fireworks,” she assured.

Shirley gave Jeff a suspicious look when she noticed the way he was holding onto their friend. He shot back a look that attempted to say ‘mind your own business’, working well enough that she didn’t say anything about it.

“Alright. By the way, Elijah and Jordan told me that they liked catching fireflies with Auntie Britta and her husband,” she said casually.

Annie, Troy, and Abed all turned around to eye Jeff and Britta suspiciously. 

“Oh…well, uh…there was a misunderstanding and…” Jeff started.

“It was too much trouble to correct it,” Britta finished. She sat up enough to make eye contact with him, the two of them exchanging awkward smiles.

“Well, the point is, thank you for playing with them. They really appreciated it,” Shirley said.

“Of course! I’m not as bad with kids as I thought I was,” the blonde said somewhat excitedly.

“Any time,” Jeff said. 

The group continued talking about the party and various hijinks that had occurred, but Jeff and Britta weren’t paying much attention. Since the fireworks had stopped, she uncurled herself and was now sitting upright with Jeff’s arms around her. 

“So, uncle Jeff, do you actually want to babysit any time?” she asked jokingly.

“Well, auntie Britta, you know me well enough to know that I don’t. I was merely engaging in a courteous social convention,” he replied.

“That’s a relief,” she said with a laugh. Jeff looked down at her, thinking about how gorgeous she was in the moonlight.

“You know, I-”

“Can we go make out in my car? Or somewhere else? Like my apartment?” Jeff interrupted.

Britta’s face flushed, though he couldn’t see it through the dark. “Sure. What’s our excuse, though?”

“Hey everyone, great party, Shirley, but I think I should get Britta home. The fireworks left her a little bit rattled,” Jeff said loudly, rejoining the group conversation. Britta stifled a laugh at his sudden declaration 

“Oh, of course! Sorry about that, sweetie,” Shirley said, speaking to Britta.

“It’s okay. The rest of the party was great. Good to see you all,” the blonde said as Jeff helped her stand up.

“Alright, well-”

“See you all next week at the…whatever we have next week,” Jeff said, showing his impatience to be alone with Britta. She bit her lip to suppress a growing smile at his enthusiasm.

“See you then!” Annie said, waving goodbye.

The rest of the group chimed in with various farewells and well wishes as the pair started moving out of the yard and to Jeff’s car, him placing a hand on her back.

“You know, you couldn’t have been more suspicious about that,” Britta said softly, now barely holding back laughter.

“You know? I don’t particularly care,” Jeff said back. The blonde smirked, popping up on her tiptoes to plant a quick kiss on his cheek. Not to be outdone, he stopped walking, grabbed her by the arms, and pulled her in for a real, probably-too-long-and-intense-for-a-family-party kiss. 

As they pulled away, Britta looked up into Jeff’s shining eyes and laughed. “Well, now they’re definitely suspicious,” she said.

“No offense, but I’d hope that they’re a little more than suspicious after that, Auntie Britta.”

**Author's Note:**

> Britta's reasoning for not liking fireworks is based on something that really happened to me, as is her freaking out about unexpected fireworks and Jeff swooping in to comfort her! I love giving my favorite characters bits and pieces of myself through fics
> 
> as always, leave any thoughts/opinions/critiques/etc. down below! thanks for reading, hope you all are doing well! <3


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